Author Archives: Jeanne

As part of an ongoing series, we feature the favorite places of Yosemite community members and park visitors. Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, a deep canyon in the northern section of Yosemite National Park, is a favorite spot of Jeanne Haegele, who lives in Yosemite and works in the marketing department.

“The first thing you notice when you visit Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, is how similar it is to Yosemite Valley—except that you have it all to yourself. It’s almost eerie. At some points, it’s more than 4,000 feet from the valley floor to the rim of the canyon, and there you are at the bottom. Alone in the vastness.

You have this amazing canyon pretty much to yourself because it’s hard to get to. The only way there is by backpacking, and it’s a challenging trip. Around 28 miles in total with lots and lots of uphill.

Yesterday was my co-workers birthday, so I painted him a birthday card. The painting is a view of Half Dome across the Ahwahnee Meadow in Yosemite and is actually based on a photo that my co-worker took, which he found very touching. It was a fun card to give 🙂

There’s a wildfire burning in Yosemite National Park, and on September 7th, I had the chance to do another time lapse of it. This was taken from the Ahwahnee Meadow in Yosemite Valley, from right near Sentinel Dome, and from Glacier Point. The fire is called the Meadow Fire.

It has been a while since I’ve made a collage (I think the last one was my Deer Chicago piece) so I was excited to make these collages earlier this week during an art night with some friends.

The following piece is my boyfriend’s favorite. He likes the kid jumping off of the diving board into the pool of space. I think my favorite is the one of the man and the woman with the galaxy behind them. I love how excited the woman is. She is so INTO that galaxy.

I tried my hand at night photography and discovered something I already knew–that I LOVE night photography. I ended up getting these amazing photos of stars, and sure there is some noise from the high ISO and they’re a little bit fuzzy, but I am incredibly pleased with them as a start.

I can’t wait to learn more and get good at taking pictures of the stars!

A few weeks ago, we drove over to Mono Lake, a massive salty lake on the eastern border of Yosemite. I had seen the lake from afar before, and I knew it would be pretty, but I was still surprised by the beauty of this place. Around sunset, the sky was a bright hazy glow and the water had become a milky white. It was a stunning sight paired with the distant mountains and the dramatic tufa towers on the shores of the lake.

Tufa is essentially common limestone. What is uncommon about this limestone is the way it forms. Typically, underwater springs rich in calcium (the stuff in your bones) mix with lakewater rich in carbonates (the stuff in baking soda). As the calcium comes in contact with carbonates in the lake, a chemical reaction occurs resulting in calcium carbonate–limestone. The calcium carbonate precipitates (settles out of solution as a solid) around the spring, and over the course of decades to centuries, a tufa tower will grow. Tufa towers grow exclusively underwater, and some grow to heights of over 30 feet. The reason visitors see so much tufa around Mono Lake today is because the lake level fell dramatically after water diversions began in 1941.